Comparison of Hoof Bath Solutions for the Prevention and Control of Digital Dermatitis in Dairy Cows

1. Research Summary Published in the Proceedings of:
D. Döpfer1*, U. Desranleau Dandurand2, A. Desrochers3, A. Letellier2,
S. Quessy2, A. Bourgeois4, C. Frenette Dussault5 & M. Allard2
1UW-Madison, USA, 2Laboratoire M2, Canada, 3Université de Montréal, Canada,
4Clinique vétérinaire de Sherbrooke, Canada, 5Université de Sherbrooke, Canada *dopferd@vetmed.wisc.edu
THYMOX CuSO4
Working concentration in hoof baths 1% 5%
MIC at Minimal exposure time with 20% manure 0.004 % 0.019 %
Comparison of Hoof Bath Solutions for the Prevention
and Control of Digital Dermatitis in Dairy Cows
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
M0 M1 M2 M3 M4
Predicted M-stage prevalence
as a fraction of 1
M stage
Farm 1 (CuSO4)
Farm 2 (Thymox)
Farm 3 (Thymox)
Farm 4 (Thymox)
Introduction
Digital dermatitis (DD) is a widespread and costly
disease in dairy herds. Hoof baths are commonly used to
prevent DD and many products have been used as hoof bath
solutions. Among them are copper sulfate (CuSO4) and
formalin that upon exposure can be hazardous to human
health and the environment. There is a need to find and test
new chemicals that are less toxic than CuSO4 and formalin.
A solution comprising thymol, Thymox, is a safer biocide with
antimicrobial activity. In vitro studies showed that the Thymox
inhibited the growth and killed treponemes isolated from
DD at concentrations lower than the working concentration
of 1% in hoof baths (Table 1). We hypothesized that the
Thymox will be effective in controlling DD in endemically
affected cows housed in free stall barns.
Table 1. In vitro efficacy on Treponema
Materials and Methods
Four dairy farms (650 cattle) were enrolled in this field
trial. The feet were evaluated at week 0, 6 and 12. The
M-stages were used to record the stages of DD lesions:
M0 no lesions, M1: small focal lesions (<2cm in diameter),
M2: acute active lesions (>2cm in diameter), M3: healing
lesions and M4: chronic lesions (Berry et al., 2012). Farm
1 went through a 5% CuSO4 hoof bath 3x/week once per
day, while the other three farms adopted Thymox at 1%.
Locomotion and hygiene were also scored in this study.
The number of transitions between the M-stages were
counted and transformed into a probability matrix able
to predict the relative frequencies of the M-stages after
prolonged periods of time.
Results
The multi-states model showed that CuSO4 on farm 1
was associated with significantly less M2 lesions
compared to all three farms on Thymox, at the same time
significantly less healing stages M3 were to be expected on
the Thymox farms. The number of normal legs without signs
of DD was significantly lower on farm 2 and higher on farm
4, while early M1 stages were significantly higher on farms
2 and 4 compared to farm 1. The number of M4 stage was
significantly lower on farm 4 only when compared to farm 1
(Figure 1).
Discussion
Chronic lesions are the long-term reservoirs of DD and
the precursors of active lesions. Increased chronic lesions
become a problem under the impact of risk factors such
as bad hygiene. It is extremely common that products
result in more chronic lesions compared to CuSO4, which
was not observed with Thymox. In this study, the Thymox
product was associated with the prediction of equal or less
chronic lesions, and in one farm, significantly more normal
legs. This work is an example of a long-term study that yields
results able to show effects of the hoof bath solutions on DD.
It is strongly advised to take these long-term effects into
account when adopting new hoof bath agents. Finally, early
detection and prompt topical treatment of active M2 lesions
are essential for the success of a hoof bathing strategy.
Figure 1. Long-term prediction of M stages for each farm.

2. Acknowledgment
Thanks to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Agricultural
Innovation Program).
Reference
Berry SL, Read DH, Famula TR, Mongini A and Döpfer D
2012 Long-term observations on the dynamics of bovine
digital dermatitis lesions on a California dairy after topical
treatment with lincomycin HCl. Vet J. 193:654-658
External contributions
This project was reviewed by Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada to benefit from a contribution agreement via the
Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP).
The protocol of this research project was evaluated
by University of Montreal’s ethic committee who gave their
approval to conduct this project on cattle.
The in vitro experiments done to demonstrate the effica-cy
of THYMOX against digital dermatitis pathogens were
conducted by Dr Dörte Döpfer at University of Wisconsin-
Madison.
The statistical analysis of the data was done by Dr Dörte
Döpfer at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
André Desrochers, DMV from University of Montreal and
Dr Cédric Frenette Dussault from University of Sherbrooke
gave strong advice for the experimental design and the
data analysis.
All the cow observations were done by Antoine Bourgeois
DMV from the Clinique Vétérinaire de Sherbrooke.